PIC development board - n00b Needs Advice

[vne147]

Apparently it isn't written in the stars. Its been far too frustrating an experience so far and I'm thinking to leave it for now.

I don't want to discourage you from learning any aspect of micro controllers but in this circumstance I agree. I would suggest forgetting it for now and returning to it when you need it or when you are a little more comfortable with the basics.

While I'd like to progress to coding in high level languages, I'm curious to learn Assembly through MPLab. Despite the steep (and frustrating) learning curve, I seem to pick up stuff about the inner workings of the micro by way of ASM. I imagine there are a number of equally valid approaches to learning micro controllers, and that all roads eventually lead to Rome.

Understood. It will not hurt you at all and will likely be beneficial for you to learn assembly before moving onto C or your language of choice. Good luck and don't hesitate to ask more questions when you run into problems.